For the Luv of a Band Geek
by VioletWingedPerfection
Summary: The first male flute section leader in Qualmire Band history is a guy that EVERY girl has their eye on. But he ends up falling for the shyest one there, a Pit player by the name of Jenn.
1. The Section Leader Who Made History

Marching Band.

For most of us band geeks, this is the very meaning of life for most of our year. It's sweat, tears, blood, strained muscles, shouted orders and heavy instruments. But it's also something so much more, something that goes even deeper than the laughter, jokes, bus rides, football games and parades. It's a feeling that you know that you must sacrifice so much for the good of the band, but when you receive that shiny, gleaming trophy in front of hundreds of people, you know that you never want to be a part of anything else.

This is a story that takes place right in the thick of all this madness, with a shy but beautiful pit player, and an extremely sweet guy, who just happens to be the first male marching flute player and section leader in Qualmire Marching band history. Although at first they both knew little about each other, or about relationships in general, they fell in love. This is the story of how two band geeks survive a year of life, loss, fights, jealousy, long practices, late nights, and Marching Band.

Chapter One: The Section Leader Who Made History 

"Can you _believe _this?" A curly, blonde-headed flute player remarked angrily to her black-hared, petite friend, looking at the listings for a brand new Qualmire Marching Band Season. Or QMB, as the members and fans affectionately called it. "I work my BUTT off for three long years in this band, and how do they repay me? By screwing me over and picking some transfer student, whom no one has ever seen, as section leader! What the hell are they thinking?"

"I don't know Amberly. They say that he's really good, and apparently got a perfect score on his audition for section leader."

Amberly was still fuming, "I would've gotten a perfect score too! If it weren't for the fact that Mr. Crevett and Mr. Raducci are out to get me! You know they never liked me Corinne!"

The short girl shrugged, "Well, I 'm just glad that nothing like that's going on in the Clarinet section, I'm not section leader and that suits me just fine. I can do without all this drama."

"Wow, you're very sympathetic, well that new guy better watch his back, I'm not going to be taken any orders from some _kid_ who thinks he's good, and if I have anything to say about it…"

Amberly and Corinne disappeared around the corner, still arguing fiercely about the new Flute section leader, as a dark eyed girl peered around the corner. She was very pretty, with delicate features and high cheekbones, and her hair was a rich color of auburn. She had a thoughtful look on her face as she thought about what she just overheard. _So the new flute section leader is a guy! That's a first! No wonder Amberly is ticked, all anyone's heard the last few years is about what she would do as section leader, even the Pit kids like me have heard, and we're not even on the field! This year should be interesting._

"Kallie, what have you heard about the new Flute section leader?"

The Pit section leader looked up at the Bell player in surprise. "What was that Jenn?"

"I heard Amberly bitching about it before practice this morning, she's pretty upset."

Kallie laughed, "Oh yeah. But I have to say I would have felt really bad for the other flutes if she were their section leader. Especially the rookies, she would make more than one of them cry!"

"That's for sure!" James called from the corner were he was practicing his timpani part, "Amberly would turn into such a dictator if anyone gave her any power at all, and then band directors know this."

"But I don't envy that new guy though." Said Ryan, the Pit's cymbal player,"Sure, he might be section leader, but that's no guarantee that the Flutes will really respect him, and Amberly is sure going to give him hell for being better than her!"

The xylophone player Katie and the vibraphone player Allison walked in the door and overheard the conversation. Katie laughed and shook her head so her long dark hair swished all over the place, "No one has beaten Amberly for first chair flute since third grade! She was positive that she would be section leader come senior year, but what she doesn't know is that all the flutes play slightly less than their best when it comes to chair auditions. Were lucky that this guy isn't from our school, because he would be just as intimidated by her as all the others."

"Why haven't we seen him yet?" Allison asked, "Today is the first official day of practices after all."

"Well, band camp doesn't technically start until Wednesday, and since he had to move from all the way out of state, well, he was told that he it would be okay to come in time for Band Camp to begin. In the meantime…."

"Amberly is acting like the Supreme Empress of the Universe, and is giving the flutes pushups for even coughing!" James finished Kallie's sentence, laughing, "No one gave her orders to be temporary section leader, but she probably figures it's her only chance to act like she's in charge until the actual authority gets here!"

Everyone laughed at this, most of all Jenn who, even though she never admitted it to anyone, Amberly had always scared her a little bit, and she wasn't even in the flute section! She could always hear Amberly shouting furiously at the flutes during concert band in school, even all the way in the back of the room in the percussion section.

_I've never been happier to be in the Pit section than I have this year! And I can't wait to see this guy that everyone is talking about it!_

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So, I hope all of you guys enjoyed the first chapter! This story is very loosely based on my own experiences in my school's Marching Band! Which is called QMB, for short! I took some of the actual people I know, and tweaked their names, and the instruments they play. Some of the people are actual real people though, but I did make up some people, though I wont tell you whom! But yes, the character Jenn is me! So I hope you guys like this story enough to read another chapter of it! Till next time fellow band geeks!


	2. It's Pit! We Bang, You Blow!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed me! I really enjoy hearing the opinions of other band geeks such as myself! Enjoy!

Just a reminder, the story is _very _loosely based on my high school and Marching Band experience. I did base many characters on people I know and I tweaked their names, and I even left some people's names exactly the same. But some people _are _made up, though I wont tell you whom!

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The Band director's wanted the whole Band present when the new flute section leader made his appearance. So they piled everyone in the auditorium, even the Color Guard, for this "historic event" as they called it.

Jenn found the whole thing really dumb, "No wonder they're making such a big deal out of this." She remarked to one of her best friends Sally, who played alto Saxophone, "Three guesses who the Director's new pet is going to be!"

Sally laughed, "No kidding! I feel kinda bad for the kid, because everyone knows that the Mr. Crevett's and Mr. Raducci's pet is always on the out-most fringes of the band geeks. Poor guy, I bet he's a real nerd."

"I don't know about that guys." Said the Lilly, who was on the other side of Jenn and also one of her best friends; she played mellophone, "I mean, yeah he probably is a nerd, but he really can't be on the fringes too much, after all! We're Band geeks for god sakes! _We_ are on the outside of the normal High School fringes anyway! We have to stick together!"

"Well said Lilly!" Approved Natalie. Natalie was a part of their little Band posse as well. She was extremely nice and played the flute, "But I personally can't_ wait _to see my new Section Leader! He's gotta be a helluva lot better than _Amberly_."

The girls all turned to look across the auditorium where Amberly and her band of snotty friends were, mostly Color Guard girls. Amberly was talking a mile a minute and looking pissed, which was her habitual expression.

"She looks like she's ready to bite off some heads." Said Jessie, the last member of their group, and who was also in the saxophone section along with Sally.

That caused everyone to laugh as finally Mr. Crevett and Mr. Raducci took the stage.

"Okay everyone!" Mr. Crevett spoke into the mike, while Mr. Raducci stood to the side as usual. Mr. Crevett really was the main Marching Band director, but the was no way he could take care of 150+ Band kids by himself, so Mr. Raducci helped him, along with a long stream of other various helpers and Band teachers.

"With great honor, I'd like to preset the new Flute Section Leader, and the only male flute player in QMB history!" Mr. Crevett looked down at the Drumline Section leader, Andrew, who promptly struck a drum role on his Snare, "Josh Wysocki!" Mr. Crevett held his hand out dramatically at the wings of the stage as Josh walked out.

Up until this point Jenn had been thinking that this whole charade was completely ridiculous. Especially when the drumrole started, and their whole row broke out in hysterical silent giggles, but as soon as _he_ walked out onto the stage there was absolute silence, mostly from the girls, who were in complete shock.

There was no two ways about it, Josh was a _babe. _

Jenn swore she could see all females in Marching Band drop their jaws as Josh walked to the mike, clearly embarrassed at all the attention he was getting, and said nervously into the mike.

"Hi everyone! I'm Josh, I just moved here and I'm really happy and excited about being the new Flute section leader. I hope to make some friends and get to know all of you better."

Silence.

Jenn was not the only one staring at him, she glanced up and down her row and saw that every one of her friends was doing that also. But Natalie_ did_ break her gaze for a moment to raise her eyebrows suggestively at Jenn before turning back to the god that stood shyly on the stage, his hands shoved into his pockets.

_God is right! _Jenn thought, looking at Josh's highlighted blond hair and well defined muscles. Not body-builder type muscles' but enough, which is just what Jenn happened to like. His eyes were brown, which seemed to sparkle with an internal light and happiness, which matched his friendly smile. _Friendly **sexy** smile._ Thought Jenn, smiling naughtily. He seemed like he was just about 6'1, which was perfect for her; she was 5'7 and needed someone taller than herself so she wouldn't feel like a giant.

_What am I thinking? Perfect for ME? He's gonna have every girl in the Band after him now! Just admire him from afar girl, he's not gonna be interested in you!_

"Um, thank you Josh." Mr. Crevett said, "Is there any questions for Josh?"

One brave girl raised her hand, Jenn recognized her from the Trumpet section.

"Yes Mellanie?" Mr. Raducci called, probably getting tired of not talking, "What is it?"

Mellanie stood up and tossed her long blond locks back over her shoulder. She was one of the resident tramps of the band, though she was very pretty in a stripper-ish way, and wasn't afraid of anything.

She stood with her hands crossed and her head cocked in her signature _come-hither_ look, "Yeah, can that sweet piece of ass be _our _section leader instead of the Flutes?" She asked in a loud voice indicating her group of friends, largely in the Trumpets themselves.

This remark caused a huge swell of laughter and flirty comments, which caused poor Josh to flush an impressive red color.

Jenn was laughing too, but probably because she was one of the many girls who were thinking the same thing about Josh, but were to afraid to say it. Mellanie, being the slut that she was, had said something that the whole female population of the band had been dying to say. That happened often with her around.

"Okay okay, settle down!" Mr. Raducci looked a little startled himself, he didn't even scold Mellanie for her language, "Come on everyone, we should probably be getting to work! It is the first day of band camp after all! Lots to do! Get working!"

And so began the first day of Band Camp, which started and pretty interesting season to say the very least.

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I just want to say that I'm sorry if sometimes I'm a little hard on the Color Guard and imply that they're like tramps or something. In theory I have nothing against the color Guard, but I have had some really bad experiences with the Guard in my Marching Band. So the girls in the Guard at my school really act like this, but I don't want to insult any other Color Guard people who might read this. There's really nothing in this chapter, but this is an advance warning. Please review!


	3. Band Skanks, I know You Have Them Too

Just a reminder, the story is _very _loosely based on my high school and Marching Band experience. I did base many characters on people I know and I tweaked their names, and I even left some people's names exactly the same. But some people _are _made up, though I wont tell you whom!

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Jenn was just taking her seat in the cafeteria during their lunch break on that "historic" first day of Band Camp when Natalie slumped down in-between her and Sally. With the eyes of everyone at the table on her Natalie heaved a huge sigh and dug into her brown bag as if eating required a colossal effort.

Finally Lilly spoke up, "What's wrong with you?"

Natalie looked up, "Huh? Oh. Well you'd be fed up too if you had to deal with _my_ section."

"I thought you loved playing the flute!" Jessie said looking alarmed.

Natalie shook her head, "That's not what I'm talking about. What I mean is the _people _in my section!"

"Oh yeah! How is that new section leader?"

"He's great!" Natalie assured them, "Very professional, and very nice. Even to the freshman! He seems like a nice guy, really, but oh my god. That Amberly and her little group of cronies make me _sick_ sometimes!"

"Why, what'd they do?" Sally asked sympathetically, she knew how much down-to-earth Natalie hated fake girls like Amberly.

Natalie rolled her eyes to the heavens. "Where do I start?" She said dramatically, "First off, Amberly gave everyone in the flute section one of her famous looks. You know the ones, the 'Touch and you die' looks."

"Touch? Touch what?" Asked Jenn, looking confused as usual.

"Touch _Josh_, Jenn, she was warning everyone silently to keep their hands off of him." Natalie explained patiently, sometimes it took Jenn a second to get things. She wasn't by any means slow or stupid or anything, but it was just the way she was.

"Anyway," Natalie continued, "Amberly gave us her _look_, and the minute Josh showed up she was all smiling at him, and licking her lips, turning up that _famous_ Amberly charm that seems to have worked on _every_ guy in Marching Band, the whole school even!"

"So what happened?" Lilly asked eagerly, knowing only too well, as the rest of them did the spells Amberly can cast over people.

Natalie leaned forward and said in a whisper, "He turned her down _flat!"_

The girls all gasped. "He actually turned her down? Jeez!" Jenn exclaimed, "Give that boy a medal! It's about time someone told that girl off!"

"Natalie nodded and bit into her sandwich, "See for yourselves, she's sitting down over there with her friends."

The group all swung around to look at Amberly, who sat in her chair with her cronies, her arms folded d her jaw set angrily, staring in the distance, while all her friends sat around her looking like they were trying to cheer her up."

"She looks like she's in shock." Sally commented, "She's just sitting there staring."

But Jenn had followed her gaze, and saw that Amberly was actually staring at Josh, laughing with a bunch of the most popular guys in Marching Band at their table.

_He sure knew who to get right in with. _ Jenn thought dryly, _Looks like Josh is the new resident hottie in QMB. _Jenn let her gaze fall on another guy sitting at the same table. It was the guy who had been her crush for as long as she could remember. He was definitely the hottest guy she'd ever seen playing in a Marching Band, that wasn't gay, she thought with a giggle. His name was Sean. She had been obsessed with him for the longest time, close to a year actually. _Sean_. His name came out like a sigh, or at least it had for her until recently. As much in love she had been with Sean in the past, (her knees went weak when he just walked by her) the love that she _thought _had been true had started to fade away recently. Sure, he was still extremely attractive; Jenn closed her eyes and pictured him. The way his chestnut hair curled over his ears, his deep eyes, strong arms, and the perfect contours of his shoulders and muscles. It was still enough for her to shiver, but she was almost positive that it was just lust that she now felt for him. He barely knew she was alive, and there was also that one tiny thing that had stood in her way of making her move; he had a girlfriend. She went to a different school, _Thanks God, if I had to see them together I would go completely crazy,_ but he apparently loved her, and Jenn wasn't the kind of girl who could ever break a couple up. _I'm not __**that**__ mean____But still…_She needed to forget about Sean, and she knew it too. Her friends just tolerated her constant talk about him; they were not the kind of people who would be as mean to say, "Jenn! Girlfriend, just forget about him! He'll never go out with you!"

Which was true, of course, but she could never bear to think about him and his girlfriend together. In fact Jenn was almost glad that she was practically over him. _It's for the better. _She tried to convince herself, _After all, this new guy is pretty hot. _ That made her laugh, Josh was about as likely to go out with her as Sean was. _Sometimes I just crack myself up. Imagine me and Josh! Oh, that will definitely happen! Hahaha…_


	4. So Foul And Fair A Day

Thanks for everyone who reviewed me! Here's another chapter for your bandgeek needs! Lol

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It was an unusually wet and cold August day, especially for Band Camp. It had rained hard all the night before, reducing the football field to a sodden, muddy mess. A light rain was still falling when Jenn jumped out of her Dad's car and ran into the school for practice that morning.

When she got to the bandroom she found it packed to the brim with colorguard, instruments, and Band kids. Jenn went over to where her friends were sitting, on the ground, (A/N That happens a lot in my band for some reason there never seems to be enough chairs) and they made space as she crouched next to them.

"No outside practice today." Lilly informed her, "We're all staying in here wasting time until Mr. Crevett and Mr. Raducci decide what to do with us."

"What about the gym?" Jenn asked, pushing a trumpet case out of the way and leaning against the Band lockers.

"Colorguard's practicing in there," Jessie told her, rolling her eyes, "Like they need the whole gym to practice in, they _could_ just use the cafeteria like always! I don't see why they have to be prissy about all of a sudden anyway."

"If Colorguard is using the gym then why are they all in here with us?" Jenn demanded, but as soon as the words came out of her mouth Rebecca, the Colorguard captain came and shooed all the CG into the gym before any of them could even speak.

"Anyway," Susie said, "I think that Mr. Raducci and Mr. Crevett are just really mad because of Senior Prank last night."

It was a QMB tradition that the Seniors of Marching Band pulled a prank night during Band Camp. What they were _supposed_ to do was run around the camp they were staying and trash the whole place. But ever since some stupid kids last year brought alcohol to the camp, QMB wasn't welcome back there anymore, and they now had to have band camp at the school. There wasn't much that they could do at the school, except spray the walls with shaving cream and also the special QMB trailer and QMB Bus, which was exactly what the Seniors did. They also went to Mr. Crevett's house and put Ramen noodles in his hot tub, which made Mr. Crevett pretty mad, as you can imagine.

So mad even, that Mr. Crevett and Mr. Raducci called a QMB meeting of _everyone_, not just the Seniors, and told them how disgraceful and selfish it was for them to spray the school and whatnot, they didn't mention the Ramen noodles, but everyone knew that going to the Director's houses was off limits from now on.

Personally, Jenn thought that the whole thing was taken out of context, the shaving cream came off right away anyway, and the Ramen noodles _were_ funny, thought probably only to the Band kids.

After lecture time was over, the Directors said that they decided to hold practice in the Auditorium in a circle, they did it often, but the Pit Percussion hated it, because then they had to move all their instruments into the Aud. And considering that this year it consisted of a gong and a huge bass drum, among other things, it wasn't a fun experience. Jenn particularly hated moving the Gong, even though she didn't play it they made her move it because the bells were so small to transport, the metal covering the wheels was sharp, and it had cut her leg quite badly not to long ago while she was moving it. (A/N That is honestly a true story. I love the gong, but it did really cut my leg before, I have a scar now!)

They way the Circle was set up in the Auditorium, the Pit was situated right next to the flutes. Of course this didn't concern Jenn so much before, but now that Josh was the section leader…let's say that Jenn was missing more notes than she was playing. She was admiring how nice he was, he was helping a tiny freshman girl with a question about the next measure. But she kept on losing rack of track of what she was doing. Kallie, her section leader, had been over twice already to ask her if she was all right.

While Mr. Raducci was yelling at the Trombones and tapping a rhythm for them to follow on his trusty blue marching block, Kallie came over once again to ask her if she was alright.

"Fine, I'm fine." Jenn whispered, trying not to draw Josh's attention to the fact that her section leader was yelling at her.

"Well if you're sure. Try to pay more attention Jenn." Kallie said a bit too loudly as she walked away. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Josh turn and look at her, and Jenn was sure her face turned the color of a lobster…with a sunburn.

But as she stole a glance at him again a couple of seconds later, he was still gazing at her. Jenn was so amazed at this that she looked at him straight on and gave him a tiny smile, Josh smiled back shyly, and gave a nod of recognition. But then they had to snap their heads forward at Mr. Raducci called for attention.

Jenn was sure there was a _huge_ smile on her face, and she probably looked ridiculous, but for the first time in her life, she didn't care what anybody thought of her

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	5. So Foul And Fair A Day, Pt 2

By the way guys, I'm sorry if suddenly the names of my friends change. Honestly I can't remember whose names I changed or not. Oops. I should have just kept all the names the same, idk why I changed them. This is a story that's true after all! It's not like they make the story any different! Anyway, from here on out these are the names of my friends, despite what they were in the previous chapters!

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It was on the same day as this rainy, dreary, band camp practice that Jenn had her first verbal encounter with Josh. She was already still beaming from the slight head inclination that she got from him earlier, and when they broke for lunch her friends noticed.

"What's with you?" Susie asked when she grabbed her paper plate and stood in the buffet-style tables set up in the cafeteria. She grabbed a roll and some salad.

"Huh? Oh nothing." Jenn was distracted as she noticed Josh had just joined the end of the line with his huge group of friends.

"Jenni!" Natalie nudged her impatiently, "You're holding up the line!"

"I'm not hungry." She stepped out of the line and walked away, "I'll try to find a table okay?" She said over her shoulder.

By the time her friends came over, each with enough food to feed an army, Jenn had pretty much bored a hole in the back of Josh's head, not that he noticed, and fighting the urge to walk by him again to see if she got another head inclination.

"At whom are you staring at so hard?" Lilly interrupted, "Your eyes are gonna fall out!"

_Caught in the act! _Jenn thought panicked, _I've got to be sneakier! I don't want to tell my friends that I fell for another guy who I have no chance with! Better to let them think it's still the same guy. _

"Shawn." Jenn said hurriedly, "Ha-ha! Who else?" She laughed nervously, "No one else could get me staring like that hottie super bomb! Wow I'm hungry! I should have gotten food huh?" She reached over and grabbed one of Susie's three rolls and stuffed it in her mouth.

_Smooth, real smooth. _Jenn though gloomily, and concentrated on not choking, _A mouth full of roll to keep my friends from knowing about my crush. Wonderful._

It was at this moment when Jessie and Susie reached the punch line of the joke they were telling about what happened in their section that morning, and the entire table burst out laughing, including Jenn, who still had a mouth full of roll.

Josh had to choose that moment to walk by. He gave her an unreadable look. Jenn couldn't tell if it was pity, or revulsion, or laughing. None of her friends seemed to notice either as Jenn slid down in her seat, her cheeks burning. She decided to go and get a brownie from the dessert table to drown her embarrassment in double chocolate chip.

"I'll be right back." She mumbled to her friends, who were still laughing and joking.

Jenn stumbled over to the dessert table and started loading up a plate, all the while cursing herself for always blowing things, especially her chances with guys.

"Stupid, stupid." She muttered, reaching out her hand for a peanut butter cookie, just as another hand reached for the same one. Their hands touched mid-air, and as Jenn turned to apologize she found herself looking into big, brown, bedroom eyes. Josh's eyes.

Jenn practically jumped out of her skin, but couldn't look away. Josh didn't look away either, but smiled a little. Finally, after years, (or so it seemed) Jenn found her voice, and looked at the ground "Ohmigosh. I am so sorry! You can have that. I have to go" She turned to leave, but felt a hand grab her wrist.

"Come now, I wouldn't be much for a gentleman if I didn't let a lady have the cookie she wanted!" She looked at his face to see if he was making fun of her, and there was a teasing sparkle in his eyes, but he was serious, he was holding out the cookie.

Jenn had to take it, though she now felt she would never be able to eat again, and said very faintly, "Thanks."

"No problem." He stood looking down at her, a thoughtful expression on his face, Jenn wasn't sure if she should leave or not, but in any case her legs would probably give out as soon as she tried to walk. She was only keeping up now because of her fierce grip on the buffet table.

"You're Jenn, right?"

Astonished, Jenn managed a weak "Yes." Meanwhile her brain was working overtime, _Ah! How did her know who I was? He's been here a couple of days, yeah, but he's so popular why would he even care who I am? He isn't friends with any of my friends, and none of __**his**__ friends are friends with my friends, so that means he must of made an __**effort**__ to find out my name! I don't believe this!_

Jenn was so excited that she almost missed his next words.

"You play the bells right? In the Pit?"

"Wha-? Oh, yeah."

Her throat had never been so dry…

"You're a great player. My friends told me that last year you had a run on the marimba that no one could believe. And your bell playing is great too."

_His friends told him? I didn't think that any of those kids even knew my name! Why would they tell him I was good? And he must have been listening to me during practice if he thinks I'm good at the bells!_

"I hear that you're also first chair bass-clarinet in concert band, and solo saxophonist in Jazz. That's really impressive, I only play flute. And you play all those instruments! Percussion, Bass-clarinet, and saxophone!"

"Well I really like music." Jenn managed to say, while frantically thinking, _all these compliments! Is he…No! Is he __**flirting**__ with me? It can 't be! _

"Well, you're good too." She ventured, "I heard you got a perfect score on your section leader audition, no one has ever done that! Especially a brand-new QMB member!"

To Jenn's astonishment, she saw Josh blush a little.

"I've been playing awhile." He muttered, but seemed pleased. "But you've only been playing bass clarinet for a year, and saxophone not even that! Plus you're not even a percussion player, and you're so good!" He smiled at her.

"How do you know all of this?" Jenn asked incredulously, "I've never spoken to you before!"

"Oh, uh, well." Jenn realized that she put him in an awkward spot, "I kinda asked around about you." He admitted, "You seemed like a really cool person, and I wanted to get to know more about you."

"Oh. Um, thanks! You're really cool too, I would love to get to know you better!" Jenn barely managed to get the words out, she felt very light-headed.

_No guy has ever told me I was cool! Especially a guy as hot as Josh! Could there __**be**__ a luckier girl than me? I think not!_

Josh laughed. "Oh! Me cool? Let me tell you something." He leaned in closer, as if telling her something really confidential, "I'm a dork." He confirmed, "People tell me all the time how cool they think I am, but I'm such a geek!" He laughed again, "I think it's really funny."

Jenn laughed too, only because she wasn't sure how else to react.

_If this keeps on for much longer I'm going to faint for sure!_

Finally Josh ran his fingers through his hair, and looked at her again, the sparkle back in his eyes.

"Would you like to eat dinner with me tonight during break?" He asked, "I know it's not a real date," He continued quickly, "But until band camp is over I really have no free time at all, but if you would rather eat with your friends I would totally understand…"

Jenn reached out and put a hand on his, "I would love to!" She said, not believing it was actually her saying this, it felt like someone else, "Meet me later than okay? I have to go back to my friends, they're gonna wonder what I'm doing this whole time!"

Josh nodded quickly, "Uh, yeah, ok. Yeah I should probably go too. So I'll see you later?" He backed up and almost tripped over a tuba player's chair, and the occupant gave him a dirty look.

Jenn had to smile at him, "Yes. Definitely. Bye now." She walked back to her table, on legs that barely supported her. Her arms were numb and she could even feel the plate she held loosely in her hands.

_Did that really just happen? I can't believe it! Things like this don't happen to __**me!**__ I'm just Jenn, I don't live a glamorous life, I'm not exceptionally pretty, I don't have guys falling over me, it just doesn't happen! In my life at least…and here I am with a date with one of the hottest guys I've ever seen!_

Jenn sat down at her table, in almost complete shock. She didn't even notice that all of her friends were staring at her. She was going over every exchange that had just happened between her and Josh, and finally noticed that all the people at the table were holding back giggles, barely.

"What?" She said finally, as her table exploded with giggles. "What is it?"

"What were you doing so long over there with Josh?" Susie asked, raising her eyebrows.

"We thought that you weren't gonna come back!"

"Yeah! You guys looked _engrossed_ in conversation." Natalie gave her a significant look, "What could have possibly kept your attention for so long?"

Jenn took in the looks of all her friends, "You guys wouldn't believe me even if I told you." She picked up a cookie and nibbled at it delicately, enjoying the pained expressions on her friend's faces.

"No! Please tell us!" Always a drama queen, Jessie threw herself across the table and grabbed Jenn's hand. "We can't stand it anymore!"

Jenn freed her hand and shook her head, "You guys won't believe me, but okay."

She took a deep breath, "Josh asked me out."

For a second no one said anything, Jenn suspected that they were absorbing the shock, just as she was right now.

"Wow, you're serious right?" Susie broke the silence, "That's awesome!"

Jenn smiled, and saw all her friends nodding their approval.

"Really, Jenn, that's so cool!" Lilly said softly.

"Wow the hottest guy in QMB, that's impressive." Natalie slapped Jenn on the back, "When are you guys going out?"

"Well we both don't really have any free time until camp is over, but we decided that we're gonna eat dinner together tonight. Not much of a date, but it's the best we can do right now."

Everyone was talking and exclaiming about one of their friends catching the attention of such a desirable male, except Lilly. Jenn noticed that she was sitting in her chair, being strangely quiet. If Jenn didn't know any better, she would have guessed that Lilly was jealous of her date. But Jenn, in addition with being friends with Lilly for almost an eternity, and knowing that Lilly would never be like that about a date her friend had, knew that Lilly was a lesbian. She hardly mentioned it, although most of her friends knew. Secretly Jenn thought that Lilly wasn't as open as other gays, she most certainly was not the only person in the school, not even the only person in QMB, because she was afraid if being teased. Lilly was overweight and very self-conscious about herself, though her friends loved her anyway. Jenn figured that something else must be bothering Lilly, and when she felt like talking about it, Jenn would be the first to know.

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	6. Flirty Glances and Awkward Silences

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Like most Marching Bands, QMB played during the Friday home Varsity football games. They played things like the "Fight" song and "Lets Go Team" during the first half of the game, and then ran their show during half-time. It was supposed to be a practice for their competitions, which usually took place on Saturdays, but no one at the football games would notice if they did well or not, so football games were never any pressure.

The day of the first Varsity Football game dawned clear and cold. It was the second last day of Band Camp, and school would begin the following Thursday. So it was quite unusual to have a Home football game before school even began, however no one was complaining. For the first time that whole week the weather was well below 80 degrees, and even though the game wasn't until 7:00, band camp started at 9:00am, and everyone was glad that they could march without sweating bullets for the first time since Band Camp started.

Jenn, however, was shivering slightly, and grateful she brought a hoodie with her that morning. A breeze ruffled her auburn hair and she smoothed it furiously, wishing her hair-tie wasn't still inside the school.

"Band, ten-hut!" Stephanie, the Drum Major shouted, her hands poised in ready position.

"And hut!" Everyone replied, snapping his or her instruments in to place and standing at attention.

"Second movement everyone!" Mr. Raducci said into his microphone. He stood in the press box where he could see the whole band more clearly, "Set 25!"

"That's measure 17, Pit." Steph spoke from the corner of her mouth from her spot on top of her stand before anyone said anything. The Band directors always called out set numbers, but because the Pit doesn't march, they always needed to call out, "And what measure is that?" Stephanie stood at least three feet directly above Jenn's head, but because the whole band was silent, Jenn could hear the Drum Major perfectly.

"Thanks Steph." Jenn whispered back, while the other girl smiled at her. Jenn was a year behind Stephanie, but she was in the same band and also the same art class last year. So they were pretty friendly towards each other, despite the age, and of course, authority gap.

Mr. Crevett, from on the field, turned in the metronome that was hooked into an amplifier, just for 5 beats so Steph knew the tempo, and then the band started to play.

Ten seconds later they stopped, because one of the freshman trumpets started on the wrong foot and totally screwed everyone up, not to mention he was off the beat.

"Go back everyone, go back." Mr. Raducci called, "Shane, do I need to give you pushups, or are you going to remember what foot you start on this time?"

Judging from how red poor Shane's face turned Jenn new that he would never again make a mistake on the set. The QMB directors were very good at that, they can not give you pushups, but still make sure you never make another mistake on a particular set again from just signaling you out and embarrassing you in front of 160 or so band kids.

Again the band started, and made it quite smoothly until the last part of the song, when the trombones messed up their solo and caused everyone to giggle.

"Someone is extremely sharp." Mr. Raducci spoke, his voice echoing all over the field, "Mr. Crevett, could you find out whom?"

While Mr. Crevett went over to the trombones and had them go through their solo note by note, Jenn took to staring Josh again until he looked back at her, which caused her to go pink, yet wink suggestively in his direction, which caused _him_ to go pink.

Ever since earlier in the week, when they had dinner together Josh and Jenn had been nearly inseparable. They spent every meal and break together, although not alone, they alternated between eating with Josh's group and Jenn's group of friends. Despite their mischievous behavior, Josh's group was actually quite a lot of fun to be around, which Jenn never would have guessed. She was never popular enough to hang out with them before. But the guys that had never looked at her twice before were no treating her like they had known her for years. She wasn't even the only girl in their group either, Steph, the drum major was with them constantly as well. Along with the Trombone section leader, the Sousaphone section leader, and the Drumline section leader, not to mention her former love interest, Sean. Pretty much all the "it" people of Marching Band. Jenn never would have admitted it, but eating with these people irked her just a little. Not because they were rude to her; in fact they couldn't have been nicer, but Jenn knew that if it wasn't for Josh this whole group would never have spoken a word to her.

When Mr. C was satisfied with the tuning of the trombones, he signaled Mr. Raducci, who in turn started rehearsal again. This time things went quite well until the end of rehearsal. Which was the time when the whole band trooped back to the school for pizza and to get changed into their Marching Band uniforms, it was a typical QMB football Friday.

Jenn ate with her friends that evening, accompanied by Josh as usual. It not to say that Josh and Jenn were going out just yet, but the whole band, her friends included, were certain that the day those two became a couple was not far off.

Her friends were being wonderfully supportive of her budding relationship with Josh, saying that they should go out with each other soon, or she'll be holding off the entire female population of the band, including, her friends joked, all of themselves as well.

Of course none of them said this in the presence of Josh, in fact they were rather normal during the times Jenn ate with them; just talking quietly among themselves and occasionally cracking a few stupid jokes.

Josh, on the other hand, was always painfully quiet around Jenn's friends. She didn't have the faintest idea why; he always chatted quite easily with just her and with his friends. Perhaps it was just because he wasn't use to so many females around, or at least this is what Susie suggested when Jenn mentioned this to her friends one day.

"After all, it's not like he has any sisters or anything." Susie said practically, "He knows how to act around _you_, because he likes you, but he probably doesn't have any idea how to act around girls he doesn't have romantic feelings about."

Susie was really smart so Jenn figured that this piece of advice was quite reasonable, though she wished that josh would feel more comfortable around her friends. They were her friends after all.

"Time to get dressed guys!" A band "mom" called as she walked by, "You have about a half-hour, so get a move on!"

Quickly cleaning up her trash, Jenn turned to Josh and said "I'll meet up with you after 'kay?" He nodded, and after a fleeting hug Jenn turned to the Auditorium, where the QMB girls dressed for football games.

Along with dressing, there was always music playing in the Aud while the girls dressed, and the popular favorite was "Crank That Soulja Boi." Considering that most of the girls knew the dance, it turned into quite a little dance party in there, Jenn joining in as usual, she loved to dance, and she didn't have her friends teach her "Soulja Boi" for nothing!

After a couple of breathless extremely silly minutes, the girls dressed quickly, and went to pick up their instruments.

While gathering the cymbals together that the pit played during the football games, Jenn noticed that her friends were huddled in a tight circle, and looking over at her giggling.

A little miffed, and curious, as she knew they were talking about her, she went over and tapped the nearest shoulder, which happened to be Jessie's, and exclaimed, "What the on earth is so funny about me?"

"Nothing!" Lilly said quickly, but then burst into frantic giggles again.

"WHAT?" Jenn was thoroughly annoyed now; she crossed her arms and gave them her best pissed expression, eyebrows raised and head tilted to the side.

With a furtive glance at each other, they all spoke at once,

"What is up with you and Josh?"

"He is SO into you!"

"You are SO into him!"

"Just go and fuck him already!"

That last once was from Lilly, who got a horrified look from Jenn, and an alarmed look from everyone else. She turned bright pink, "What?" she mumbled, "Just trying to be encouraging"

"I don't need that kind of encouragement." Jenn told her, rolling her eyes, "but come on guys, nothings going on yet!"

"Yet!" Susie leaned in and gave her a little wink, "As my grandmother used to say…"

Susie often went off on these little stories; her grandmother and mother had things to say about everything.

"This is fascinating, Suze, but we really must fly." Jessie gently interrupted her, we should have been out of here 3 minutes ago."

"Oh no!" Was the collective gasp from everyone, as they took off in different directions. Jenn, to the cymbals that she still needed to gather, and her friends to go line up in the parking lot to march to the football field.


End file.
